ArmInfo. Despite international obligations, Azerbaijan blocks humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh, including for UN humanitarian missions, which negatively affects the prevention and overcoming of the spread of the epidemic in Artsakh.
This was stated by the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia Artak Apitonyan during his speech at the UN Regional Forum on Sustainable Development of the European Economic Commission.
This year, the forum focused on sustainable recovery from COVID-19, as well as steps to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the EEC region.
In his speech, stressing the role of the UN and the World Health Organization in coordinating the fight against the epidemic, he noted that from the very beginning of the spread of the epidemic, Armenia was one of the supporters of international efforts and deepening cooperation, joining a number of international initiatives, including the COVAX program, which can contribute to deepening cooperation between countries at all levels.
The Deputy Minister noted that at the national level, the Armenian government has implemented more than 20 programs to mitigate the socio-economic consequences of the epidemic, to provide assistance to vulnerable groups of the population and support businesses affected by the epidemic. Artak Apitonyan emphasized that the large-scale military aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan on September 27, 2020 created new humanitarian problems in both Armenia and Artsakh, significantly increasing the pressure on the socio-economic and healthcare systems, which were already covered by the epidemic. Azerbaijan is blocking humanitarian access to Nagorno-Karabakh, including for UN humanitarian missions. This policy of Azerbaijan also contradicts the provisions of Resolution 2565, recently adopted by the UN Security Council, which requires continuous access of humanitarian and medical personnel to conflict zones to facilitate vaccination against COVID-19.